Apparatus for treating liquids.



No. 890,227. U PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

W. P. M. eoss.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING LIQUIDS. APPLICATION mm) 1:30.23. 1901.

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PATENTED JUNE 9 W. F. M. GOSS. APPARATUS FOR TREATING LIQUIDS.

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APPLICATION FILED DEC. 23. 1901.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

COMPANY, OF

WILLIAM F. M. GOSS, OF LA FAYETTE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES DISTILLATION INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING LIQUIDS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. M. Goss, citizen of the United States, residing at La Fayette, in the county of Tippecanoe and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Treating Liquids, (Case 3,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to apparatus involving a plurality of chambers containing liquid under different pressures or temperatures, or both, such apparatus, for example, as distilling apparatus in which the liquid to be distilled is held by a plurality of chambers, from one to another of which in most cases it is fed.

The object of my present invention is to provide a feed system by which the plurality Ofchambers can be effectively and economically supplied with the liquid to be distilled.

In the present application I have shown a distilling apparatus embodying the general features of construction set forth and claimed in a patent issued to the United States Distillation Company November 11, 1902, No.

713,297, distilling apparatus, on my appli cation, and the process carried on in which apparatus I have set forth and claimed in a patent issued to the United States Distillation Company, November 11, 1902, No. 713,298, process of distilling liquids, on my application. It will be understood, however, that this apparatus is shown in order to show an operative form of distilling apparatus to which the present invention is particularly applicable, and that it is not intended to confine the present invention, by any means, simply to the distilling apparatus herein shown.

By the use of the feed system embodying my present invention, I am enabled to supply the several chambers of the system with the liquid to be distilled, by a single pump or pumping apparatus, thereby dispensing with the use of a pump for each chamber. I am furthermore enabled to supply each chamber automatically with the proper Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 23, 1901.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Serial No. 86,922.

amount of liquid it is to receive in order to compensate for that lost by evaporation. Also I am enabled to heat the liquid supplied each chamber to substantially the temperature of that chamber before its admission into the same, and furthermore am enabled to employ a single uniform pressure throughout the feed system, although the pressure of the chambers varies.

In the accompanying drawing,Figure 1 is a view partially in vertical section and partially in elevation of a distilling apparatus and a feed system embodying my present application; Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22 in Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are views of details of construction.

In the apparatus shown in the drawing,

ceptacle A is intended as a heater of the liquid to be distilled and no evaporation occurs in it. The other three chambers or receptacles, however, are evaporators, as well as heaters, and in them occurs the evaporation of the liquid.

It is the intention to have in each appa- I ratus a single heater, A, and a plurality of evaporators A, A and A In the apparatus shown in the drawing, there are three such evaporators illustrated, but it is understood that their number can be increased as desired. For certain reasons, set forth in said Patent No. 713,297, it is desirable to have the number of evaporators at least six, and the number can be increased beyond this with good results.

The chambers or receptacles A are shown made in the form of cylinders, each of which is provided with a set of longitudinally running tubes 1, 1, whose upper and lower ends are fitted tightly into heads 2, 2, secured in position between the top 3 and bottom 4 and the central cylindrical portion of the chamber. It is understood that these tubes 1, 1, are distributed throughout the cross sectional area of each cylinder. The heater A is constructed in this wise, while the evaporators A, A A have in addition interior coils B, B B which for convenience are made in the form of a single zigzag, extending beof chambers or recep- C, C and C tween the 11 per and lower portions of each cylinder and crossing the same several times between its upper and lower ends. These evaporators A, A and A also have hollow side projections C, C and C each of which .is conveniently made in the form of a tubular casting secured to the side of the cylindrical portion of each evaporator near the upper end thereof. These cylindrical portions of the evaporators have openings 5, 5, affording communication between their interiors and the interiors of the hollow projections the arrangement is slightly modified, the

pipes being extended only a shortdistance into the projections C, which latter are provided with bores extending beyond the pipe ends, and the apertures 7 are formed in said bores.

In the'hollow projections C, C C are arranged float valves consisting of valves 8, 8, controlling the openings 6, 6, in the pipes B,

' B ,B and pivoted levers 9, 9, carrying floats 10,10. I also provide a pump D which it is un derstood can be any suitable form of pump for pumping liquid. This pump D is connected with the heaterAby a pipe 1 1 having a branch ipe 12 having a valve 12 entering the lower end of the heater A. The pump D is supplied by a suitable supply pipe 13 which is understood to convey to the apparatus the liquid to be distilled. A relief valve 14 is also provided and is connected with the supply pipe 13 and the feed pipe 11 by means of pi es 15 and 16 respectively. va ve 14 can be of any suitable or desired construction, and is intended to allow the liquid, if the pressure from the pump D becomes too great, to return to the suction side of the pump. The relief valve is set at a pressure slightly greater than that the sys-' tem is intended to generate.

The feedpipe 11 extends downwardly and along below the heater A and evaporator-s A, A and A being here provided with valves 11 11 11 and 11 and thence up alongside of the end evaporator A where its upper end connects with the upper endof the pipe forming the coil B From near the upper end of the heater A a circulation pipe 17 extends downwardly and connects at its lower end with the feed pipe 11 at 18. The pipe forming the coil B of the evaporator A connects with this circulation pipe 17 at 19. From the upper end of the pipe forming the coil B of the evaporator A another cir- T his relief culation pipe 20 extends downwardly and connects with the feed pipe 11 at 21. The pipe forming the coil B of the next evaporator A connects with this circulation pipe 20 at 22. In a similar Way a circulation pi e 23 extends from the upper end of the pipe forming the coil B of the evaporator A to the feed pipe 11, to which connection is made at 24 and the pipe forming the coil B of the end evaporator A is connected to this pipe 23 at 25. The circulation pipe 20 has a valve 26 below its connection with the pipe forming the coil B, and a branch pipe 27 having a valve 28 extends from this circulation pipe 20 to the cylinder forming the evaporator A. In a similar way the circulation pipe 23 is provided with a valve 29, and a branch pipe 30 having a valve 31 extends from this circulation pipe 23 to the cylinder forming the chamber A The end of the feed pipe 11 arranged alongside of the end evaporator A is similarly provided with a valve 33 and a branch pipe 34 having a valve 35 extends from this pipe 11 to the cylinder forming the evaporator A The-pipes forming the coils B, B B are provided with valves 1), b and b near their connections with the circulation pipes 17, 20 and 23 respectively. Theheater A has its lower end provided with an outlet. pipe 36 which'is understood to convey from the apparatus the liquid distilled. From the upper end of this heater A a pipe 37 extends upwardly and thence downwardly between the heater A and the evaporator A, and is connected with the bottom of the latter. This pipe 37 is provided with a mixing chamber 38, and also with a pressure reducing valve 39 which can be of any suitable or desired construction as can also the mixing chamber 38.

From the mixing chamber 38 a pipe 40 extends to the eva orator A to which it is connected at 41. n a similar way a pipe 42, provided with a mixing chamber 43 and a pressure reducing valve 44, extends from the top of the evaporator A down between the same and the evaporator A to whose lower end it is connected; and similarly a pipe 45 extends from the mixing chamber 43 to the evaporator A to which it is connected at 46. A pipe '47 extends from the top of the evaporator A to the end evaporator A to which it is connected at 48.

Theend evaporator A is provided at its upper end with a pipe 49, and at its lower end with a pipe 50 which pipes are understood to extend to some suitable source of 50 and their connection with a boiler or other source of steam supply, it will be understood that any suitable means for heating the end evaporator A can be provided.

In using the apparatus thus described, the heater A and evaporators A, A A are supplied with liquid to be distilled. This, at the beginning, of course,. can be done by pumping such liquid by means of the pump D into the feed pipe 11 with all of the valves in the feed pipe 11 and in the circulation pipes 20 and 23 and branch pipes 27, 30 and 34 open. This will allow the liquid to enter the heater A by way of the pipe 12, to enter the evaporator A by way of the feed pipe 11 and sup ply pipe 20 and branch pipe 27, the evaporator A by way of the feed pipe 11 and supply pipe 23 and branch pipe 30, and the evaporator A by way of the feed pipe 11 and branch pipe 34. The liquid is supplied in this way until it flows from the heater A into the circulation pipe 17, and until it is at such a height in the evaporators A, A and A as to cause the float valves thereof to close the apertures 6, 6, in the pipes forming the coils B, B and B At the time the float valves thus close the apertures 6, 6, the valves 28,

31, 35, 11% 11 11' and 11 are closed by hand, it being understood that the heater A may be provided with a gage to indicate when the liquid therein rises to the pipe 17. Continual further action on the part of the pump D will tend to force the liquid to be distilled into the lower portion of the heater A, thence upwardly through the same and out through the circulation pipe 17 into and through the pipe forming the coil B, thence into and through the circulation pipe 20, coil 13, circulation pipe 23 and coil B in succession, thus tending to produce a continuous forward flow of the liquid to be distilled. Should the pump tend to pump more liquid than can be accommodated by the system, the excess will find its way through the relief valve 14 and back to the suction side of the pump.

The steam is then caused to circulate from the pipe 49 through the tubes 1, 1, of the end evaporator A thusheating the liquid contained in this evaporator. This heating. is carried on to such an extent as to cause evaporation from this liquid, whereupon the vapors thus produced pass into the pipe 47 and through the same into the top of the evaporator A They then circulate downwardly through the tubes 1, 1, of this evaporator, during which circulation they are in large part condensed, issuing from the bottom of the tubes and flowing into the pipe 42 as condensate. This condensate rises in the vertical portion of the pipe 42 and passes thence into and through the pressure reducing valve 44 where its pressure is reduced, passing thence at a lower pressure through the mixing chamber 43 and into the top of the first evaporator A. It then passes downwardly through the tubes 1, 1, of this evaporator and out of the same into the pipe 37, thence flowing through the pressure re ducing valve 39 where its pressure is again reduced, passing therefrom at such still lower pressure to and through the mixing valve 38 and into the top of the heater A. Thence it flows through the pipes 1, 1, of this heater to the bottom thereof, whence it emerges by way of the outlet pipe 36.

n condensate The passage of the vapors a through the pipes 1, 1, of the evaporator A heats the liquid in this evaporator to an extent to cause evaporation. The vapors thus produced issue from this evaporator into the pipe 45, whence they flow to the mixing chamber 43 and here mix with the condensate flowing through the pipe 42 and issuing from the pressure reducing valve 44. The vapors are thus mixed with this condensate, pass along with the same through the pipes 1, 1, of the evaporator A in which they are condensed. The condensate thus formed mingles with the other condensate and issues from the bottom of this evaporator A into the pipe 37 whence it rises and circulates through the preceding portion of the system with the condensate first mentioned.

The passage of the vapors from the evaporator A and the condensate from the pipe 42, through the tubes 1, 1, of the evaporator A, causes the contents of this evaporator A to be heated to such an extent as to cause evaporation therefrom. The vapors thus produced issue from this evaporator by way of the pipe 40, whence they flow into the mixing chamber 38, mixing therein with the condensate passing through the pipe 37, the whole flowing together into the top of the heater A, and thence through the tubes 1, 1, thereof in which the vapors from the evaporator A become condensed. This condensate mingles with the condensate already flowing in these tubes, and issues therewith through the outlet 36. The flow of vapors and condensate through the tubes of the heater A serves to heat the contents of this receptacle, preparatory to its passage into the evaporators.

As evaporation takes place in the evaporators A, A and A the liquid therein is of course reduced and the level thereof is lowered. When this occurs the float valves 10, 10, are lowered, thereby causing the opening of the valves operating in the upper ends of the pipes forming the coils B, B and B whereupon liquid enters the hollow projections C, C C and flows thence into the cylindricalportions of these evaporators. Thus the quantity of liquid in these evaporators is maintained practically constant. The liquid thus admitted flows upwardly from the seventh evaporator superheated steam at feed pipe 11, through the lower portion of the 1 pi es forming the coils B, B B before its a mission into the evaporators and in so doing it becomes heated to the temperature of the contents of these evaporators. Thus liquid, before its admission to each chamber, is heated to the temperature of the contents of that chamber.

In case of possible derangement of the float valve mechanism for automatically admitting liquid into each evaporator, the valves 28, 31 and 35 can be operated by hand to secure the admission of the liquid. If it is desired to cut one chamber out from the system, this can be done by the arrangement of the by-pass valves; for instance, to cut out the evaporator A, the valves 1) and 26 will be closed and the valve 11 will be opened, whereupon the liquid in the circulating pipe 17 will pass by the coil B and circulate downwardly into the pipe 11 to the circulation pipe 20, and thence through the latter into the coil B It will be remembered that the pressure of the liquid fed is greater than the pressure in any one of the evaporators, and hence the liquid to be distilled flows readily into each and every evaporator as required. Thus in accordance with my invention a single circulation pump serves to effect a proper feed of the li uid to be distilled into each evaporator, and this liquid, while being fed, is maintained at a uniform pressure throughout the system; or in other words, although the chambers each have different pressures, but a single uniform pressure is necessary in order to insure a supply to all of the chambers. That is to say, although the chambers have different pressures liquid is supplied them from a single source and by .a single pumping mechanism by the use of but a sing e pressure. Furthermore each chamber is automatically supplied independently with the liquid which is required to compensate for that evaporated, thus avoiding the necessity of circulating the liquid from chamber to chamber as has heretofore been done; and the liquid thus independently supplied to each chamber is automatically heated to substantially the temperature of that chamber before admission into the same.

The system or apparatus can of course be operated under greatly varying conditions of pressure and temperature. When employing seven evaporators which I have hereinbefore stated as desirable in order to have the output entirely liquid, water is introduced into the heater at a temperature of 60 degrees F. and is there heated to 212 degrees F. The pump raises the pressure to 100 pounds per square inch, at which pressure it is fed to all of the chambers. At the 100 pounds pressure at 338 degrees F. temperature is employed. The contents of this evaporator then have a pressure of 75 pounds and a temperature of 320. The pressures and temperatures at which the feed water enters the various chambers are then as follows:

Chamber 0r Pressure. Temperature. evaporator.

It will be seen that any chamber can be cut out of the system so as to make it ineffective, during which time cleansing and repairing can take place in this chamber without interfering with the operation of the re maining chambers. By the employment of cylinders provided with longitudinally eX- tending tubes, a much larger heating surface is secured.

It will be understood that I do not wish to be limited in the application of the feed system herein set forth, to the distilling apparatus herein shown, for obviously such feed system could be applied to other forms of apparatus as well.

Referring now particularly to the feed apparatus of, the present invention, it will be observed that the coils B, B and B being connected together by the pipes 20 and 23, and being connected with the pump by the feed pipe 11, branch pipe 12, heater A and ipe 17, form a system for the feed and circulation of the liquid to be distilled. This sys tem, it will be seen, so far as the evaporators are concerned, is independent of the chambers so that the feed liquid is advanced and circulated entirelyindependent of the liquid contained by the several evaporators. It will also be seen that the apertures 6, 6, 6, in the pipes forming the coils B, B and B together with the float valve mechanism controlling these apertures, form means by which any one or all of the evaporators can be supplied with liquid from this independent feeding and circulating system. It will also be seen that the arrangement of by-pass valves constitutes means by which any evaporator can be cut out without interfering with the operation of the others. As regards these features it will be understood that the specific form of apparatus herein shown and described can be modified, changed or altered without departing from the spirit of the in vention. For example, the coils B, B B can be of any other arrangement or construction, and can be associated with evaporators or chambers in any other way; also mechanism for automatically admitting liquid into the evaporators or chambers, other than the float valve mechanism shown, can be employed, an dvarious other changes made.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of coils B, B and B arranged in the chambers or receptacles and opening into the same, and connecting pipes connecting the coils of the several chambers, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of pipes arranged in the several chambers and between the same so as to form a single continuous duct, and means for opening such duct at each chamber, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system extending to the several chambers so as to form a continuous duct for the liquid, openings for supplying each chamber from such system, and valve mechanism for controlling said openings, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of pipes associated with and extended between the several chambers so as to form acontinuous duct for the liquid, openings in said pipes at each chamber, and valve mechanisms for controlling said openings, said mechanisms being arranged to admit liquid from said duct into any chamber when the level thereof falls below a redetermined point, substantially as descri ed.

5. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of pipes associated with and extended between the several chambers, the pipes associated with the chambers being arranged from top to bottom thereof, and being provided with apertures near their outlet ends, and valve mechanisms controlling said apertures, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of pipes extending to and associated with the several chambers so as to form a continuous independent duct, a portion of which is associated with the various chambers, and the remainder of which extends between the same, and a pump for supplying said duct with the liquid to be d1stilled, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a plurality of re ceptacles or chambers for the liquid, of a feed system consisting of pipes extending to and associated with the several chambers so as to form a continuous independent duct, a portion of which is associated with the various chambers, and the remainder of which extends between the same, a pump for supplying said duct with the liquid to be distilled,

with the liquid to be distilled, and means for heating the liquid supplied each chamber to substantially the temperature of the contents before entry thereof.

9. The combination of the heater A and evaporators A, A and A the said heater and evaporators being constructed with longitudinally extending tubes 1, 1, means for heating the endmost evaporator, means for employing both the vapors from the contents of the evaporators and the condensates resulting from such vapors in heating and evaporating the liquid to be distilled, a pump, a feed pipe 11 extending from said pump to the heater and evaporators, coils B, B and B in the evaporators, a pipe 17 extending from the upper portion of the heater A to the feed pipe 1 1 and connected with the lower end of the coil B, a pipe 20 extended from the upper endof the coil B to the feed pipe 11 and connected with the coil B and a pipe 23 extended from the upper end of the coil B to the feed pipe 11 and connected to the lower end of the coil B the upper end of the coil B being connected with the end of the feed pipe 11, the upper ends of the coils B, B and B being provided with apertures, valves controlling these apertures, floats controlling said valves, branch pipes 27, 30 ahd 34 provided with valves 28, 31 and 35 'and valves 11", 11 11 and 11 in the feed pipe 11, and valves b, b and b at the lower ends of the coils B, B and B substantially as described.

10. The combination with a plurality of receptacles or chambers for the liquid, of means for circulating the liquid to be distilled through the chambers without intermingling it therewith and feeding a portion of the same to each chamber.

11. The combination with a series of chambers or receptacles, of a supply system consisting of piping running to each chamber and forming a continuous duct to the same, an opening at each chamber whereby liquid can be supplied each chamber directly without its passing through or commingling with the liquid in the preceding chambers, portions of said piping being associated closely with said chambers, and of such length as to cause the liquid entering each chamber to become heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, and valve mechanism controlling the openings in said piping to said chambers, substantially as set forth.

12. The combination with a series of chambers or receptacles, of a supply system consisting of piping running to each chamber and forming a continuous duct to the same, an 0 ening at each chamber whereby liquid can e supplied each chamber directly without its passing through or commingling with the liquid in the preceding chambers, portions of said piping being coiled within said chambers and of such length as to cause the liquid entering each chamber to become heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, and valve mechanism controlling the openings in said piping to said chambers, said valve mechanism being adapted to maintain the liquid in each chamber at a predetermined level, substantially as described.

13. The combination with a series'of chambers or receptacles, of a supply system consisting of piping running to each chamber and forming a continuous duct to the same, an opening at each chamber whereby liquid can besupplied each chamber directly without its passing through or commingling with the liquid in the preceding chambers, portions of said piping being associated closely with said chambers, and of such length as to cause the liquid entering each chamber to become heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, valve mechanism controlling the openings in said piping to said chambers, and a pump forforcing liquid into said supply system, substantially as described.

14. The combination with a series of chambers or receptacles, of a supply system consisting of piping running to each chamber and forming a continuous duct to the same, an opening at each chamber whereby liquid can be supplied each chamber directly without-its passing through or commingling with theliquid in the preceding chambers, portions of said piping being coiled within said chambers and of such length as to cause the liquid entering each chamber to become heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, valve mechanism controlling the openings in said piping to said chambers, said valve mechanism being adapted to maintain the liquid in each chamber at a predetermined level, and a pump for forcing liquid into said'supply system, substantially as described.

15. The combination with a series of chambers or receptacles, of means for maintaining the pressures and temperatures therein successively greater, a supply system for supplying said chambers or receptacles with liquid, said system consisting of piping providing a continuous duct to each chamer or receptacle, having an opening into each of the same, portions of said piping be ing closely associated with said chambers or receptacles so as to cause the liquid admitted into each to be heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, and means for controlling the liquid admitted to each chamber from said piping, substantially as described.

16. The combination with a series of chambers or receptacles, of means for maintaining the pressures and temperatures therein successively greater, a supply system for supplying said chambers or receptacles with liquid, said system consisting of piping providing a continuous duct to each chamber or receptacle, having an opening into each of the same, portions of said piping being closely associated with said chambers or receptacles so as to cause the liquid admitted into each to be heated to substantially the temperature thereof before entry, means forcontrolling the liquid admitted to each chamber from said piping, and a pump for forcing liquid into said supply system, substantially as described.

17. The combination with a chamber or receptacle for liquid, of a supply pipe B coiled within said chamber or receptacle, one end of said supply pipe extending out of the wall of the chamber or receptacle and the other end opening into the interior thereof, and valve mechanism for automatically regulating the opening of said pipe into the chamber by the liquid therein, substantially as described.

18. The combination with a chamber or receptacle for liquid, of a supply pipe B coiled within said chamber or receptacle, one end of said supply pipe extending out of the wall of the chamber or receptacle and the other end opening into the interior thereof, and valve mechanism for regulating the opening of said pipe into the chamber, con- -sisting of a valve 8, and pivoted lever 9 having a float 10, substantially as described.

19. The combination'with a chamber for the liquid, of a pipe 13 having one of its ends extended out of the chamber and the other opening into the same, a pipe 23 leading from the chamber, and a branch pipe 30 having a valve 31 connecting the pipe 23 with the chamber, substantially as set forth. In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 22d day of November, A. D.,

WILLIAM F. M. GOSS.

\Vitnesses EDWARD E. REYNOLDS, TILLIE MAeovERN. 

